By Jesse Prague, Kari Ditonno , Dana Weiss, and Juwan Sandiford

1. By Jesse Prague, Kari Ditonno, Dana Weiss, and JuwanSandiford

2. Before the mid-1800s… Crowded Room With Boys Of All Ages • There was no consistent education policy in the US • Massachusetts & Vermont were the only states to pass a required school attendance law (before Civil War) • Students of all ages crowded together in one room • Teachers were poorly trained • Wealthy parents paid for their children to have at-home tutors or attend private schools. • The lower class did not have enough money to do so. • In the 1830s, Many Americans pushed for public schools (schools paid for by taxes) • Reformers wanted lower-class children to have the same opportunity as the upper-class children in receiving an education.

3. Important leaders and their accomplishments Horace Mann Noah Webster Emma Willard Other Leaders and Accomplishments The Troy Female Seminary – renamed The Emma Willard School in her honor • Mary Lyon– influenced by Emma Willard, Lyon created another school for women, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts • Prudence Crandall - believed in educating African Americans, so she allowed an African American girl to attend her school. • Ohio’s Oberlin College admitted four women to its degree program • Was the nations first coeducational college • Oberlin also allowed abolition to move forward • Emma Willard founded the first school for women’s education, The Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York • She promoted women education across the country and abroad • Willard believed women’s education was much more important than the women’s suffrage movement • Her school exhibited a rigorous curriculum for women and became a new model for a different type of school for women. Mount Holyoke Female Seminary • Horace Mann became Secretary of The Massachusetts Board of Education • He introduced several education reforms • Mann supported public schools because they gave every child an opportunity for equal education. • He built new schools, raised teacher’s pay, opened three colleges to train teachers, and lengthened the school year to six months. • Horace Mann felt that with a common school, the level of poverty will diminish. • His six main principles: •  The public cannot be ignorant;  Education must be paidfor & controlled by interested public;  Schools must embody children of all backgrounds;  Education must be free of sectarian religious influence;  Education is taught by methods of free society;  Education must be taught by professional teachers • Noah Webster believed that a democracy required an educated public • He established several schools, including Union School in New Haven, Connecticut; he also founded Amherst College. • He believed American schools needed their own textbooks, so he published • “A Grammatical Institute of the English Language” AKA “Blue-Backed Speller” • Webster wanted to publish a resource that would uniform the English language: • He wrote “An American Dictionary of the English Language” • This dictionary would unify all the different languages and spellings in the United States. Webster’s American Dictionary This statue of Horace Mann stands in front of the Massachusetts State House, honoring his contributions. The title page of Webster’s “Grammatical Institute of the English Language” Girls who attended Oberlin in the late 1850s “The Father of American Education”

4. Connection to Jacksonian Democracy In School Not In School • Public Schools gave the commonboy/girl an opportunity to obtain an education, just like the upper-class child. • The lower class did not have to worry about money • Later in life, the lower class are educated, so they can have an equalsayas well as an equal chance of receiving a position in government and their community. • In the government, there’s also more educated voters

5. Multiple Choice Questions Why did Noah Webster create the first American Dictionary? Which of the following is not one of Horace Mann’s main principles? Match the leaders with their correct accomplishment. Which one is true? Schools must embody children of all backgrounds. Education must be paid for and controlled only by the government. Education must be taught by professional teachers. The public cannot be ignorant. Education must be free of sectarian religious influence He was a wealthy, educated scholar, who wanted to improve the education of other wealthy scholars. He had too much time on his hands. To unify the American language and spelling for everyone. All of the Above A and B Emma Willard – opened colleges to train teachers Prudence Crandall – The Troy Female Seminary Horace Mann – “A Grammatical Institute of the English Language” Noah Webster – founded Amherst College Horace Mann – Mount Holyoke Female Seminary